The Senator-elect from Kano South Senatorial District, Sulaiman Kawu, on Tuesday warned the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to repeat mistakes of the past by zoning the position of Presiding Officers of the Senate.
Kawu, who is a member of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) spoke at a press briefing in Abuja.
He described the action of the APC as an insult to opposition members-elect of the 10th National Assembly.
He urged the APC and the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to do the right thing through consultation of National Assembly members-elect and other critical stakeholders to arrive at what needs be done.
Kawu said: “In the 7th Assembly during President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, you are all aware how the executive intended to stop us from exercising our constitutional right. We fought them and they tear-gassed us, at the end, the wish of the people and the constitution prevailed.
“Now there are so many challenges we face in making sure that we consolidate the gains of democracy more especially the parliament. Now the 10th Assembly is about to be inaugurated, suddenly we saw a letter directing the members of the National Assembly to abide by the decision of the National Working Committee of the APC.
“For us, as veterans in this game. For us who have suffered a lot in defending the sanctity of the National Assembly we believe it is an insult.
“The National Assembly is an organ of government. It is not an agency of the Federal Government and the role of a political party is to guide, but they can’t dictate the selection of the Presiding Officers in the National Assembly.
“The constitution is very clear that we should choose among ourselves irrespective of party. and we are very lucky this time around the opposition constitute almost 48 per cent of the total population of the Senators-elect while the majority party has 52 per cent.
“When you go to the House of Representatives, it is the opposition that has the majority even though it is a combination of the different political parties. We thought the President-elect and the APC, will learn from past mistake in the 7th Assembly when President Jonathan intended to dictate to us where we would go in the selection of Speaker of the House of Representatives.
“We said no. We must follow the rule of law and the Constitution and we must be guided by the rules of the House.
“We chose Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and Nigerians are all aware. Even in the 8th National Assembly, Bukola Saraki and Ike Ekweremadu emerged presiding officers of the Senate against the intention of the APC.
“Our thinking now is that the APC and the President-elect will learn from past mistakes and do the proper thing through consultation, interface, reach out, persuasion and persuade the members of the National Assembly and all the stakeholders in arriving at that position.”
He added: “The essence of Constitutional democracy is to give power to the people. What we are witnessing today is against the tenets of democracy.
“It is against what we stood for for over two decades. It is an insult for the APC to dictate to me where I will go in choosing the presiding officers.
“We are representatives of the people came with our own agenda, the agenda of our people and there are so many issues on the ground now. Some people are agitating that we must sit down and discuss our Constitution.
“Some people are asking for true federal system; others are asking for fiscal federalism, while some people are asking for restructuring to change the political structure of Nigeria.
“Some people are not even happy with the way and manner the country is going, and so they intend to break out from Nigeria. The only way we can face these challenges is to have the Constitution as our guidance. Allow us to sit down and do the needful. Allow us to do those things that will promote unity, happiness and prosperity of Nigeria.
“I am advising the President-elect, that as a democrat, we learnt a lot from him. He was in forefront in fighting Obasanjo for this democracy.
“We were with him when we stopped Jonathan from installing leadership in the House of Representatives. So, ‘Baba’ don’t allow sycophants, don’t allow the so-called new cabal in Nigeria to dictate to you; we will not allow it and we will resist it.
“Some of your sons are still in the National Assembly and we know that you are very consistent in terms of democracy and you are very consistent with the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We learnt a lot from you but we will not allow this one to happen when we are in the National Assembly. It is a game of number, and we are doing our best to teach them another lesson.
“We are in touch with 109 senators-elect and I will assure you that we have a serious number to stop imposition in the Senate or in the House of Representatives. Yesterday the House showed Nigerians a lesson.
“We are consulting and politics is a game of number, it’s a game of persuasion, interface and we are doing it. We will cross the bridge when we get there.
What we are saying is that we have many challenges in Nigeria and we have a document which all of us have agreed to, the constitution, why can’t we use the constitution to resolve the logjam?”
